Collaborative writing is difficult to master. Some, like Iain Grant and Heide Goody, produce fiction where it is almost impossible to separate the contributions. Other collaborations can be problematic, for instance, where the talented author is working with an expert and that person’s knowledge and enthusiasms too clearly make their presence known. The result is not seamless. Anne McCaffrey’s collaborative works took a different approach. She would give the writing partner a detailed outline of the plot, then let her collaborator fill in the details in their own way. Brandon Sanderson and Peter Orullian have a great partnership. Their writing skills and expertise complement each other, making the result a very pleasurable read.
‘Songs Of The Dead’ is the first of an urban fantasy series, ‘The Strata Wars’, set in London. Jack Solomon is the lead singer/songwriter of Hounds of Winter, the metal band he formed. He is having a very bad week. The band has just kicked him out. His place of refuge is The Iron Horse, the kind of pub that has a loyal clientele of regulars and doubles as a music venue. On the way, he is waylaid by a strange woman who gives him a stone and an odd message. Once the pub closes, Jack and Henry Wilkinson, the owner, are heading back to Henry’s flat when a man steps out of the shadows and shoots them both.
Jack initially finds himself on a plain filled with statues, one of which resembles him. He falls into it and wakes up in the alley. His Nightwish T-shirt is torn and bloody but his skin only itches where the bullet hit him. He is confused, even more so when he meets a Roman centurion called Cassius who calls Jack a thanatist. Cassius is a vestige, a ghost bound to his body by a thanatist. Before Jack has a chance to find out more, they are attacked by what looks like a huge dog. When Jack passes the place where he had been shot, the creature stops as if it has hit a wall.
When he gets back to The Iron Horse, thoroughly confused and hoping to find Henry there, his friends Lady and Church begin to tell him the truth about themselves, Henry and The Iron Horse. Lady and Church are both vestiges, like Cassius, and Henry is a thanatist and the guardian of the Abyssal Steps. These lead down from The Iron Horse to the Strata, layers of historical periods where the supernatural can be found. As Jack finds out later, these include the vestiges of some of the great rock musicians, such as Hendrix and Bowie, as well as people like Bazalgette and Swan. Though there are other steps leading down, only the ones in The Iron Horse go all the way down to the lowest Stratum. The wards that protect the pub and the Steps are being eroded. An enemy is trying to gain access, and taking out Henry is only part of it. Jack wasn’t told that he was Henry’s chosen heir, and now he has to learn fast if he is to renew the wards and protect his friends.
The enemy is Muster Brach, though initially he presents himself as Henry’s friend who wants to help. The music that Jack and his friends love is in danger. Brach doesn’t want to get rid of music but to replace the rock and metal with bland earworm pop music, through which the population can be manipulated. Music is entwined in this novel and I found it a delight to recognise most of the references. Jack’s music is the kind I listen to. If, as a reader, you are baffled and live in Britain, you can tune into the Kerrang! radio channel and listen to much of the music referenced in this volume.
The characters, the setting and the plot twists make this a delightful read. As Lzzy Hale of Halestorm sings, ‘Raise your horns / Raise them high’ and indulge yourself while reading a thoroughly enjoyable book. Put Nightwish on in the background. I look forward to the next in the series.
Pauline Morgan
October 2026
(pub: Saga Press/Simon & Schuster, New York, 2026. 451 page hardback. Price: $30.00 (US), $42.00 (CAN), £20.00 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-6680-6814-4)
check out website: www.simonandschuster.com/series/The-Strata-Wars
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